Jess: I have severe cerebral palsy, which affects my fine motor skills and my speech. I express my opinions using a Light writer and Light writer and move about in an electric wheelchair or a walker. 

Cain: So it affects all the muscles in my body, but most severely my left side and my walking. I have no balance, which creates lots of challenges going up and down stairs. I couldn’t go down stairs until I was in high school. 

Elly-May: Mainly I trip over my own foot, every day.

Ben: When I walk my muscles are very tight, and I can’t walk as straight as I would like to.

Julius: The main issue is the shakiness in my hands. I can’t use computers.

Sandra: I walk with Canadian Crutches. I have a bit of a speech problem. Sometimes I have involuntary movements in my head and my mouth.

Andrew: My mind says do this any my body goes no way.

Marita: I often wake up with spasms in my right leg, and I have a tendency to have to get out of bed and lay on a cold floor, or sometimes I do have to get my parents up to sort of stretch my leg. 

Jayme: When I have spams through my sleep because my legs and arms are constantly moving, I wake up exhausted even though I’ve slept.

Hannah: Often, I am quite tired, and I guess that’s just because I use so much energy doing stuff that other kids do quite easily.

Jo: I have to plan things, I can’t be spontaneous, like I can’t, I can’t just ring up somebody and go hey, do you want to go out tonight? I have to make sure where we are going is accessible and I can actually get in the door. 

Zoe: Transport, catching public transport to work is going to take a bit longer as well because having that physical component of knowing that you’re not going to walk as fast as other people. Yes, I can walk and I can make it to the bus stop on time, it just means I need to be careful about how I’m walking, and them make sure that I don’t put myself in a situation where I feel unbalanced. 

George: I always sit with my disabled hands against the wall, because sometimes when it gets tight it kind of like spasms, and people might think I’m going it on purpose, which I’m not, it’s just me disability.
 
Andrew: I see so many people just get in their cars and be able to drive. For me, I have to spend thousands on getting modifications before I can even get into the driver’s side of the car.

Jess: Everything is a challenge, but luckily I love challenges. I have some remarkable role models to look up to. I have the attitude if they can do something so can I!

Cain: I think because I’ve had cerebral palsy I’ve actually pushed myself to do more with my life than I might have otherwise done. You know, I’ve been all over the world, I’ve represented my country in sport, I’ve run my own business. I’ve done all these incredible things that if I was just some average rugby playing kid I probably wouldn’t have done.

Sandra: There’s always a way around things that you can’t do. Like, if you can’t play football, you can go play wheelchair football. 

Andrew: It’s been a struggle having a disability and trying to get things done. But I’ve never let it stop me from succeeding at what I want to do.